Written Answers Friday 20 June 2008

Scottish Executive

Central Heating Programme

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 on fuel poverty, what priority will be given to those who suffer from chronic health illnesses, such as asthma and diabetes and require central heating systems.

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 on fuel poverty, what priority will be given to those aged between 75 and 80 who require a central heating system.

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 on fuel poverty, what priority will be given to those aged between 75 and 80 who have a partial or inefficient central heating system.

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 on fuel poverty, what priority will be given to those who have chronic health illnesses, such as asthma and diabetes, and who have a partial or inefficient central heating system.

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to ministerial the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing on 22 May 2008 on fuel poverty, what criteria will be used to prioritise cases when considering future applications for new central heating systems.

Nicola Sturgeon: All householders who were eligible for the Central Heating Programme before my announcement of 22 May 2008 remain eligible. Amongst new applicants received after 22 May 2008, priority will be given to those most likely to be fuel poor. For this year, priority is being given to those without a central heating system, along with those who either receive the guarantee element of pension credit or are aged over 80 and have a central heating system that has broken down. Within these priority groups, the position on prioritising applicants on health or social grounds has not changed. Those applicants who do not fall into one of these priority groups can reapply next financial year, when the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum has reached its conclusions and the future shape of the programme is clear.

Courts

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13585 by Kenny MacAskill on 5 June 2008, what criteria were cited for the Inverclyde commission area forwarding to HM Treasury in 2006-07 more monies than were collected.

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13585 by Kenny MacAskill on 5 June 2008, what criteria were cited for Moray commission area forwarding to HM Treasury in 2006-07 more monies than were collected.

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13585 by Kenny MacAskill on 5 June 2008, what criteria were cited for Dundee City commission area forwarding less than half of the monies collected to HM Treasury in 2005-06.

Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13585 by Kenny MacAskill on 5 June 2008, what criteria were cited for Aberdeenshire commission area forwarding less than one third of the monies collected to HM Treasury in 2006-07.

Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14070 on 19 June 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Environment

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Scottish Environment Protection Agency fulfils the requirements of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended) in relation to European wildlife sites for activities permitted under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005.

Michael Russell: The responses to questions S3W-14139, S3W-14138 and S3W-14137 on 20 June 2008, outline how the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) fulfils the requirements of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended) in relation to European wildlife sites for activities permitted under general binding rules or registration under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005. For licence level activities, SEPA has a system of evaluation in place to identify activities likely to pose a significant risk. In any case where there might be a significant effect on a European site, SEPA consults Scottish Natural Heritage regarding the scope of any appropriate assessment required. SEPA will then use the licence determination process, together with licence conditions and inspections for authorised activities, to ensure that the conservation site is appropriately protected.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Environment

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the effect on European wildlife sites of activities permitted under the General Binding Rules of the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 are assessed in combination with the effects of other plans or projects under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).

Michael Russell: In order for an activity to be authorised under a general binding rule the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) must be satisfied that the activity will not have a significant adverse effect on the water environment. Should the concentration of minor activities begin to indicate that there may be a potential risk to the water environment, SEPA has the power to require that authorisation for the activity takes the form of a registration or licence, by making use of regulation 11 of the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) (Regulations) 2005 (CAR). This will lead to an assessment under CAR in terms of regulation 15, which encompasses the general duty to have regard to the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, and, if required, an appropriate assessment under regulation 48 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994.

Environment

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the effect on European wildlife sites of activities requiring a registration under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 is assessed in combination with the effects of other plans or projects under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended).

Michael Russell: The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 require all competent authorities to consider the effects of any plan or project, either alone or in combination with the effects of other plans or projects, that may be likely to have a significant effect on a European site. the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is the competent authority for applications requiring registration under the controlled activities regulations.

Environment

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list (a) applications and (b) consents in 2007 for activities requiring registration under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 in European wildlife sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest, identifying (i) whether SNH was consulted, (ii) whether an appropriate assessment was carried out and, if so, (iii) the finding, also broken down by SEPA region.

Michael Russell: The following table shows the number of registrations under the Controlled Activities Regulations, split between the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regions, granted in 2007 within (i) European wildlife sites (Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) established under the Habitats Directive and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) established under the Birds Directive) and (ii) Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). SEPA does not record the number of registrations being refused or declined within SACs, SPAs or SSSIs.

  

SEPA Region
Registrations Granted within SACs/SPAs in 2007
Registrations Granted within SSSIs in 2007


North
28
28


South-East
14
2


South-West
1
1



  Note: Fourteen of the 28 European sites in the North region were in SSSIs.

  All registration-level engineering activities must comply with a set of rules. These rules are designed to ensure that the activities do not pose a significant risk to nature conservation. If SEPA considers that there is likely to be a significant adverse effect on a European site or an SSSI, they will undertake a further assessment of whether the rules are sufficient, and will consult SNH.

Health

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the mortality rates have been per 100,000 population for coronorary heart disease in people aged under 75 in the NHS Highland area in each year since 2000, also expressed as a percentage of the 2000 rate.

Nicola Sturgeon: The number of deaths and the death rates per 100,000, both crude and age-sex standardised, from coronary heart disease for NHS Highland in people aged under 75 during the years 2000-06 are set out in the following table:

  

Year
Number of Deaths
Crude
Standardised
Crude as %2000 Rate
Standardised as %2000 Rate



2000
339
122.1
96.5
100.0
100.0


2001
289
104.3
81.2
85.4
84.1


2002
276
100.1
76.3
81.9
79.0


2003
253
91.5
67.4
74.9
69.8


2004
246
88.4
65.5
72.4
67.9


2005
207
74.0
53.4
60.6
55.3


2006
205
72.9
52.1
59.7
53.9



  Source: GRO Scotland Death Registrations and Populations.

Health

Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether failed asylum seekers are able to access NHS treatment while they remain in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon: Any course of NHS treatment which has begun while a person is in the asylum process must be completed or continued without charge until the person leaves the country.

  NHS treatment must be given in an emergency and for certain infectious and contagious conditions. Advice on contraception and sexual health is also provided.

  Therefore, for all practical purposes, failed asylum seekers who have previously been resident in Scotland will remain in the care of the NHS in Scotland until arrangements for their return home can be made.

Justice

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions were secured for the offence of driving without insurance in each of the last five years, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Fergus Ewing: The available information on the number of persons with a charge proved by approximate local authority area is given in the following table. Information by parliamentary constituency is not available.

  Persons with a Charge Proved where the Main Offence was for Failure to Insure Against Third Party Risks, by Approximate Local Authority Area, 2002-03 to 2006-07

  

Approximate Local Authority Area1
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07


Aberdeen City 
766
684
485
412
496


Aberdeenshire 
276
286
285
288
242


Angus 
250
294
218
212
235


Argyll and Bute 
92
103
86
69
46


Clackmannanshire 
129
142
93
109
99


Dumfries and Galloway
386
320
419
322
390


Dundee City 
506
669
494
391
372


East Ayrshire 
252
317
292
305
299


East Dunbartonshire
1
-
2
1
-


East Lothian 
103
95
83
69
76


East Renfrewshire 
-
-
5
5
15


Edinburgh, City of 
1,023
1,016
864
731
926


Eilean Siar 
33
18
15
35
11


Falkirk 
335
333
219
177
204


Fife 
938
1,020
915
753
611


Glasgow City 
1,602
1,911
1,841
1,910
1,964


Highland 
338
370
300
268
268


Inverclyde 
153
173
141
105
62


Midlothian 
-
2
18
24
31


Moray 
128
128
99
108
76


North Ayrshire 
-
1
7
14
29


North Lanarkshire 
367
375
274
263
277


Orkney Islands 
24
16
11
9
6


Perth and Kinross 
298
285
218
191
187


Renfrewshire 
278
371
314
291
276


Scottish Borders 
150
176
177
181
162


Shetland Islands 
25
31
14
14
20


South Ayrshire 
381
355
223
193
232


South Lanarkshire 
982
893
617
546
489


Stirling 
221
188
150
126
152


West Dunbartonshire
187
225
213
173
175


West Lothian 
475
447
331
308
311


Scotland2
10,700
11,244
9,424
8,606
8,739



  Notes:

  1. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Some local authority areas, including East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

  2. Includes a small number of cases where the court was unknown.

Justice

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many attempted child abductions were reported to the police in each of the last five years, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Fergus Ewing: Information on the number of attempted child abductions reported to the police is not held centrally, although it is possible that police forces may hold some information on this. The available information is shown in the following table, and can only be broken down to local authority or police force level. The recorded crime data is based on an aggregate return, and so details of individual crimes, such as the age of the victim, are not available.

  Total Abductions1 Recorded by the Police by Local Authority, 2002-03 to 2006-07.

  

 
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07


Aberdeen City
10
14
11
15
14


Aberdeenshire
8
9
12
11
12


Angus
8
4
6
7
8


Argyll and Bute
5
2
5
4
4


City of Edinburgh
36
36
37
31
29


City of Glasgow
74
79
107
126
100


Clackmannanshire
2
10
2
5
7


Dumfries and Galloway
1
2
2
1
3


Dundee City
16
22
22
19
23


East Ayrshire
9
3
7
2
8


East Dunbartonshire
0
2
0
3
4


East Lothian
4
2
1
7
6


East Renfrewshire
4
3
1
5
2


Eilean Siar (W.Isles)
5
0
0
0
1


Falkirk
7
11
24
8
11


Fife
30
31
38
28
29


Highland
3
13
8
6
6


Inverclyde
4
5
3
1
5


Midlothian
6
5
7
2
2


Moray
4
2
7
3
5


North Ayrshire
10
10
9
8
5


North Lanarkshire
30
12
27
23
28


Orkney Islands
0
0
0
0
0


Perth and Kinross
7
10
5
5
4


Renfrewshire
11
11
9
18
14


Scottish Borders
6
3
6
4
2


Shetland Islands
0
1
1
0
0


South Ayrshire
6
3
6
4
6


South Lanarkshire
9
14
13
21
18


Stirling
6
5
14
8
7


West Dunbartonshire
5
12
1
5
8


West Lothian
7
5
2
16
10


Scotland
333
341
393
396
381



  Note: 1. Includes the crimes of abduction and plagium.

NHS Hospitals

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the 10-month review of the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre pilot at Stracathro Hospital by PricewaterhouseCoopers has been completed; if so, whether the findings of the review will be published; if not, when it will be completed, and whether a draft report of the review will be made publicly available.

Nicola Sturgeon: The 10 month interim evaluation of the Scottish Regional Treatment Centre pilot at Stracathro has been commissioned by NHS Tayside. The report is due to go to NHS Tayside Board meeting on 26 June 2008, which will be held in public session.

National Health Service

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total additional cost to NHS services as a result of increased fuel and energy costs has been in each year since 2005, broken down by NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS boards do not specifically monitor the additional costs they face as a result of increased fuel and energy costs; however their total fuel and energy costs since 2005-06 are shown in the following table.

  Fuel and Energy Costs

  

 
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08


(£000)
(£000)
(£000)


Area Health Boards
 


NHS Ayrshire and Arran
4,607
4,664
5,140


NHS Borders
1,323
1,447
1,772


NHS Dumfries and Galloway
2,309
2,633
2,881


NHS Fife
3,636
3,959
4,215


NHS Forth Valley
2,881
2,953
3,236


NHS Grampian
7,876
8,533
9,243


NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde*
19,741
19,561
21,050


NHS Highland
4,853
5,374
6,274


NHS Lanarkshire
4,233
4,567
4,684


NHS Lothian
13,496
13,183
14,624


NHS Orkney
276
337
411


NHS Shetland
355
303
346


NHS Tayside
6,926
7,421
8,241


NHS Western Isles
722
663
766


Area Health Boards Total
73,234
75,598
82,884


*Acute Division only
 
 
 


Special Health Boards
 


GJNH
1,476
1,497
1,595


NES
17
23
39


NHS 24
239
229
257


NHS Health
28
33
39


NSS
1,427
1,924
1,841


QIS
35
40
53


SAS
5,683
5,837
6,310


State Hospital
693
718
902


Special Health Boards Total
9,598
10,301
11,036


Total
82,832
85,899
93,920



  The Health Department does not hold centrally energy consumption figures for each board, so it is not possible to determine how much of the increase in costs is attributable to increased prices or variable consumption.

Rail Services

Keith Brown (Ochil) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the rail line between Kincardine and Dunfermline that has been used for freight to Longannet Power Station currently meets safety and other specifications for passenger travel.

Stewart Stevenson: The existing route between Kincardine and Dunfermline via Charleston Junction does not meet current standards to operate a regular passenger rail service.

St Andrew's Day

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its total costs were for St Andrew’s Day celebrations in 2007 and what its total planned expenditure is for the celebrations in 2008-09.

Linda Fabiani: In 2007 our total expenditure on St Andrew’s Day celebrations across Scotland was £447,469. Current spending projection for 2008 is £434,000.

Terrorism

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why the Lord Advocate announced her view on the maximum period for the detention of suspected terrorists a few days prior to a vote on the matter in the House of Commons.

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to which prosecution evidence the Lord Advocate was referring when she announced her opposition to a maximum of 42 days detention for suspected terrorists.

Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC: The Lord Advocate confirmed her position on the pre-charge detention provisions in the Counter Terrorism Bill on 3 June 2008 in response to ministerial correspondence from Alistair Carmichael MP received on 8 May 2008. The Lord Advocate’s reply was not discussed with the First Minister or the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

  In response to subsequent media enquiries on 6 and 9 June, the Lord Advocate’s position, as set out in her letter of 3 June 2008, was confirmed to the media.

  The Lord Advocate’s opinion on the pre-charge detention provisions is based on prosecution experience to date of cases reported and investigated under the Terrorism Act 2000 in Scotland.

Terrorism

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate discussed the matter of detention of suspected terrorists with the First Minister or the Cabinet Secretary for Justice before announcing her opposition to the proposal for a maximum of 42 days detention for suspected terrorists.

Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC: No.